Essays and viewpoints

In 1917, many an ear caught the bars of “Over There,” a highly patriotic song by George M. Cohan. It was hard to overlook its popularity. It was never considered overdone; however, we can easily make a case for the overuse of “over” in our everyday speech. We are desirous of having roofs over our heads; but to purchase the same, we may get in over our heads. Home costs are often over the top. Buying without doing due diligence may find you crying over spilt milk.

Don’t get the gambling bug; lean over backwards to avoid it. It may lead you into a situation where you are asked to fork over what you owe. If you do not, you may get a working over, which could then lead to you being hung over.

Have you ever been so surprised by an action that you could be knocked over with a feather? Maybe you were the one someone else put one over on. Well, if it is over and done with, there is no use in losing sleep over it.

It is no fun to be taken advantage of; when you realize that you have been run

roughshod over, you know that the party’s over and vow that such a thing will happen again only over your dead body! Do not wait until you are over the hill to fall head over heels in love. It is nice to have someone to make a fuss over. If that someone can skim over your faults rather than chew them over, you will know that your wait is over for the love of your life. Well, it is time to end this set of observations because I hear the pulchritudiSy Manello Editorial nous woman warbling. (That means it is

Assistant over because the fat lady is singing. I do wish you would remain a bit more with it!) Over and out.

As we enter another week of the war in Ukraine, an imbalanced battle has caused thousands of casualties and refugees. With our media, and especially social media, bursting with news, briefings and personal narratives, I found myself struggling with some of the notions that I have encountered. When thinking about why I am struggling, I finally realized that it stems from my experiences as a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force.

It was during an operation in Gaza where I was assigned to fly and attack a military target. In this type of assignment, we had only 30 minutes from when the siren went off to when the bomb would hit the target. We were in a rush … it was tense, we were focused … Everything that we did was done for one purpose: hitting the target with maximum accuracy. There was no room for mistakes. One typo of a coordinate, which was 14 digits long, and it’s all over.

Warfare today is much more digital. You receive the coordinates, and the rest is almost like a video game. You don’t even have to see the target to hit it. It can be in the pitch black of night. In order to function well in the digital battlefield, there has to be a strong sense of trust in the system that is going with you into battle.

As we approached the target, I opened the map-kit we had and looked at the target and its surroundings. The maps showed that not far away from our target was a mosque. I immediately reported this information over the radio and the call was made to head back to the base and to not take the risk of having collateral damage that might affect civilian lives. I remember this moment as something I am proud of. I had, and I still have, trust in the Israeli Defense Forces and their commanders. Despite this situation, if I honestly share what it looks like to be a pilot on the modern battlefield — it can easily go into two paths:

The first is the banality of serving. Being in the Air Force, especially when you are on duty at the headquarters, it

can feel like you are just going to work. Of course, it’s more intense than an ordinary job, and you understand the gravYiftah Leket Israel’s emissary to Detroit ity of your work, but with the advancement of technology of warfare came the digitization of these tools. The modern battlefield is built from numbers. You get a list of targets from the Intelligence Corps or from another special unit and the targets are all numbers. You get the coordinates, send them to the airplanes where they are entered into the fire control systems, and from there you attack. The pilot reports that the

This month we are focused on two things: Ukraine and Mission Planning. Our overseas partners are briefing us regularly and, in turn, we are working to answer questions and keep the Detroit Jewish community apprised of the situation in Ukraine.

Our hearts are with the many refugees — mainly women, children and the elderly — who have had to leave their homes with only what they can carry. Many of them left their husbands or sons behind to fight. Because we were in Ukraine yesterday, we were prepared to be there today. Our partners, the Jewish Agency for Israel, JDC, World ORT, National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry and others, are working around the clock on the ground in Ukraine and just over its borders.

Additionally, the first plane carrying 300 olim arrived in Israel last month. Some of them went to Nof HaGalil, one of our Partnership 2Gether cities where the mayor and community at large have welcomed them with open arms. Others went to Kfar Silver youth village in southern Israel, which is a program of World ORT and is supported by the Detroit Jewish Federation. We are incredibly proud of the work our partners are doing, much of it through the generosity of this community.

With our first mission (in over two years!) scheduled for this first week of April and two more right behind it, a lot of time is being spent training staff on protocols, procedures and COVID preparedness. For right now, vaccine requirements, PCR tests and potential quarantines are the new travel reality. We are working hard to make sure that everyone is prepared for their travel on the Partnership Steering Committee, the Interfaith Mission and two Leadership Development programs from April through May.

While we are busy with these missions, we also have three BIG things happening in the Missions space: First, the Motor City Mission is heading out under the leadership of Chairs Lisa and Richard Broder, and Diane and Bill Goldstein. Visit MotorCityMission.org to learn more and register.

Second, the Sue & Alan Kaufman & Family Teen Mission is going this summer. The itinerary continues to be refined, and we are so excited to be working with Tamarack Camps and our community congregational partners on getting Metro Detroit teens back to Israel.

Lastly, we are thrilled to announce that we are back in the Birthright business. Federation is working with Temple Shir Shalom and Hillel of Metro Detroit on two trips this spring. Several of us have been working on an Israel Education Initiative which we launched at a Federation Board of Governors meeting last fall. We’re developing a timeline and starting to build our toolbox of resources

for educators and community members. One of our important partners in this initiative is OpenDor media. As a leading global nonprofit media company, OpenDor educates, entertains and engages its audiences by bringing to life big ideas and authentic stories, and by celebrating all things Jewish.

As an official partnering organization with OpenDor, educators and clergy from the Metro Detroit community now have unlimited access to hundreds of videos, films, lesson plans and other resources at their fingertips. Stay tuned for more information on this initiative in the coming months.

PHOTOGRAPHER: OLIVIER FITOUSSI

Jennifer Levine is director of the Israel & Overseas Department at the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit.

On a spring day in the early 1960s, my family arrives at my Bubbie’s small Oak Park home in time to allow my mom to help with the seder preparation. My aunts, uncles and first cousins are also there early. As each family walks in, my Bubbie’s face lights up at the sight of her grandchildren. She stumbles over the list of the names of the grandkinder, “Jeffrey, Freddie, Sandy, Mark … etc.” and we all laugh at her struggle to remember each of us, though we know she knows who we are and loves us all.

When it’s time for the seder to begin, we all find our seats at the long collection of tables in the small living room. My Uncles Lawrence (AKA Lazer) and Gary are at the head of the table, with my dad sitting just to their right. Uncle Irving sits near the middle of the table, next to his daughter, Sandy. Uncle Irving’s seat will be immortalized as the “passing seat” during the seder meal (as in, “Please pass the potato kugel, Irv.”).

My Uncle Nate is probably making funny noises only he can produce, cracking up my cousins and me. My mom and aunts, Dorothy, Janet, Barbara and Barbara, also sit at the other end of the seder table, although they take turns popping up to head to the kitchen for various chores related to seder items and dinner. Cousin Linda is older and therefore functions more like an aunt than a cousin. The rest of the cousins are sprinkled around the table, usually sitting together so we can laugh at inside jokes, but not far from our parents’ watchful gazes.

Only my Bubbie is standing as the seder begins. This special lady, a mythic presence of my childhood, twice widowed

and probably in pain at that time from the remnants of a stroke, is nonetheless beaming as she looks out at her family sitting around the seder table. I remember that look on her face. I would see it again a few years later on my mom’s face when the seder moved to our house in Southfield. And again, on my wife’s face, whenever our whole family gathers for any special Jeff London family occasion in our dining room. Our seder in the early ’60s reflected the times. Many of our rituals and tunes were old standbys, probably brought to America along with Shabbat candlesticks from Russia through Ellis Island. And yet, as we kids were learning some new tunes and rituals in Hebrew school, there was an attempt made to modernize and streamline the seder. The four questions were of course attempted by the youngest child who felt almost ready (with some push

continued on page 9

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A s longtime donors, volunteers and leaders, Debbie and Michael Berger represent the full range of involvement and impact in our Jewish community. Debbie is the consummate grassroots volunteer, always willing to roll up her sleeves to do essential ‘on-the-ground’ work, whether it be programming, fundraising for the Annual Campaign or helping others in need, such as delivering Meals on Wheels or participating in Mitzvah Day. Michael is an active Federation and Foundation leader and board member who currently serves as President of the JCC, and he is often engaged in complex problem-solving around the community’s most urgent challenges. Together they share a deep connection and commitment to Jewish life in Detroit—values they learned from their parents and have actively instilled in their own children, Samantha, Jeremy and Victor. “We’re extremely proud to be a part of the Detroit community,” notes Michael, “Detroit has been a leader for communities of our size in the development of new ideas, the creation of programs, and the ability to garner significant financial support.”

Now, with their gift to the Centennial Fund, the Bergers are helping to promote the strength and vitality of the community long into the future. The Centennial Fund is the central endowment campaign to ensure the long-term security of Jewish Detroit. For their commitment, Debbie and Michael have chosen to create a Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment (PACE). While they may later designate some of the gift to one of their many areas of interest in Jewish life and welfare, the PACE fund will provide a legacy of ongoing support for the community, year in and year out. “The Centennial Fund is really about the future of Jewish Detroit,” they say. “It’s not about today; it’s about tomorrow.” In this way, the Bergers’ commitment demonstrates both of the fundamental qualities that characterize them as leaders: Thoughtful and wise vision as well as active participation. “Our family has felt privileged and fortunate to be in the Detroit Jewish community,” they say. “It’s been very good to us, and we want it to be good for those that come after. The only way to make sure of that is to invest in the future and continue to give back.”

For the last few years, the United States has been polarized with conflict. Both politically and philosophically, it is a fact that the U.S. makes for a country of disagreement in the present. However, this is something that can be fixed and adjusted. Now is the time to do it.

As a Hillel student, I have learned so much about repairing the broken and healing the vulnerable. In addition, Hillel has taught me ways to think critically to help my community both positively and effectively, using my mind and my soul. As I embark into my final weeks at Hillel, I am grateful for the experiences that the school has given me and the lessons for life that I have learned.

One of those treasures was our trip to Washington, D.C., where we spent hours learning about important history and facts about America. We visited monuments, museums and memorials to expand our knowledge on the history of our country. We also had deep conversations in which we learned a lot about each other. Finally, we shared laughs with each other throughout our meals, on the bus and in our rooms.

Throughout these events, Hillel was educating our minds by teaching us lessons and developing our souls by letting us build connections with each other. Hillel has nurtured us into capable and intelligent young adults who can use both their minds and souls to move forward to the next step and into tomorrow. And by stimulating our minds and souls, Hillel has ensured us that all of us can grow to be the leaders of our community. This is how Hillel has instructed their students in the classical generational tradition of Hillel.

Today, as I continue to watch the tragedy that is happening in Ukraine unfold, I can use Hillel’s mind and soul lesson in order to help all Ukrainians. I can use the tools Hillel has gifted me to make a difference, an effect, an impact on Ukraine. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be large, but something to help the situation. It is vital that we do not simply look the other way and think that it is not happening to us, but that we feel bothered and disturbed by the crisis. Because I feel unsettled, I feel motivated to help and make a difference in any manner possible.

It is not just me that must apply the “Hillel lesson” to himself. It must be our whole community, extended-com-

munity, state and ultimately the country. We must, together, look at what real tragedy and conflict is and move beyond ours. If we do this, we can bring peace to the world and bring justice to all civilians, including Ukrainians. I challenge all of my classmates to apply the “mind and soul” lesson to themselves. Zeev Maine We must listen to the words of Golda Meir, “It isn’t really important to decide when you are very young just exactly what you want to become when you grow up. It is much more important to decide on the way you want to live.” As we listen to these words, we realize that it is our time to make a difference. Forward, with mind and soul, better together.

Zeev Maine is an eighth-grader at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit.

Maintaining Humanity in War continued from page 4

target was hit, and the controller fills out an Excel sheet, and they move onto the next target.

The other path, which is the total opposite of the banality of the job, is the feeling of a real hatred for the enemy. It’s natural to feel that you hate someone who wants to kill you … but if we think about it, there is a fine line between the will to go into battle and beat your opponent and hating him as a person. From my perspective, there is no reason to hate an entire population of any organized group (such as a state or any other governing body) just because their leaders have decided to go to war. This is an especially important point when thinking about how soldiers express themselves within the civil discourse.

I recently attended a briefing by an Israeli official, who told us that there are Russian and Ukrainian teens that live together in a boarding program in Israel. He shared the complexity they now have between them. For me, this is very saddening. Why on earth would two teens, living in Israel, become enemies just because their states are at war? Don’t get me wrong, I am not so naive. It’s natural to feel connected to your country’s narrative, but extrapolating conflicts just creates more conflict.

When we dehumanize people from the other side, just because they are from the other side, we dehumanize ourselves. You don’t need to look hard to find ordinary people writing memes on social media, cursing and demonizing Russians (civilians or soldiers).

I was fortunate to serve in the Israeli Air Force, which relies on the Israeli Defense Forces Code of Ethics. This code gives an unproportionable weight toward the decision making of soldiers in the battlefield, regarding the morality of their actions and the importance of innocent lives.

I truly hope this war will end today. It’s horrible, it’s sad, it’s devastating. Unfortunately, it seems like it will continue longer than we wish. While it is happening, our morality comes into effect as we try to stop the invasion and the killing of innocent civilians while staying humane ourselves in the way we think, speak, write, and educate ourselves and others, about the situation.

Yiftah Leket is Detroit’s community shaliach (emissary) from Israel. This essay was first published by Federation’s Israel and Overseas Department.

MEMORIES OF PESACHS PAST continued from page 6 from anxious parents) in the old familiar way, before it later morphed into a newer more melodic tune. “Dayenu” was sung in the well-known tune, although we had shortened the song by then to five or six verses. We all took turns reading from the Haggadah; the kids laughed at the names of the rabbis and younger kids stumbled over the words, but everyone who could read was encouraged to try.

And through it all, my Bubbie stood guard to ensure that we didn’t skip anything important, even though I doubt that she could read Hebrew.

As I recall, we read from yellow and red Haggadahs, which were a little bit newer than the older Maxwell house versions and had bigger print, but still told the story of the Exodus in the old way. I always tried to find the copy of the Haggadah I had used in Hebrew School class, which I knew because I had written in ink in the margins “Louis is a spaz,” blaspheming my Hebrew school friend in the vernacular of the times (and whom I haven’t seen for 60 years!). Talk about political incorrectness on so many levels! There was a clear division of labor at the seder. Men were there to run the seder and teach the kids. Women participated in the seder but had one eye (and often both feet) in the kitchen. This was especially true for the after-dinner portion of the seder, when we returned to the seder table to complete the ritual and sing songs together. My cousins and I strived so hard to learn to follow the Hebrew and sing as fast as our uncles on “old country” family tunes for “Adir Hu,” “Key Lo Noeh” and “Echod Mi Yodeya.” We would laugh and sing and pound on the table as we tried to keep up. In our family, that was a sign of a coming of age. My sister Sheila (now Shana) and cousin Sandy gradually began to question the role of men and women at the seder. Why were the boys allowed to stay at the table, while girls were expected to help out in the kitchen with clean up? The original seating pattern also was gender-based, with men and boys closer to the head of the table.

Gradually, over the years, things began to change. The seating patterns tended toward less strict gender norms. I also recall my girl cousins, who were also attending Hebrew school, gradually being present at the table for the after-dinner reading and songs, keeping up with the men as well as the boys. And by the end of each seder, my aunts would join us in the living room for “Chad Gadya” and we would all stand up and sing “Hatikvah” together and end with “God Bless America,” including drum beats and harmony.

The seder was the time we felt the closest as an extended family and the most Jewish. As kids, we would complain to each other about having to come, but I think we all knew how much we wanted to be “in the room.”

We all still recall my Uncle Gary’s notorious clues for finding the Afikomen, including the most famous of them all which involved the phrase “Ruby Begonia,” which I believe was lifted from an episode of Amos and Andy, which eclipses our previous record for political incorrectness! But I’m sorry if you’re offended; I can’t write about Pesachs past without mentioning that famous clue that we all remember. It still brings a shared laugh whenever we recall our old seders.

And though my Bubbie may have been clueless about that clue, she made sure that we always knew and always did what was important. Somewhere, I know she is still standing guard, beaming at all of us, because her family still keeps the faith and remembers.

Dr. Jeff London is a retired child psychiatrist from Farmington Hills.

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